`flutter upgrade` shows redundant upgrade message even when already up-to-date on master

[tirth-patel-nc]

Steps to reproduce

1. run flutter upgrade.
2. wait for it to complete.
3. run flutter upgrade again.
4. observe that it still shows: Upgrading Flutter to 3.33.0-1.0.pre.947 from 3.33.0-1.0.pre.947...

⚠️ Can't reproduce on Stable.

tirthpatel@Tirths-MacBook-Pro jl14 % flutter upgrade
Flutter is already up to date on channel stable
Flutter 3.32.6 • channel stable • https://github.com/flutter/flutter.git
Framework • revision 077b4a4ce1 (5 days ago) • 2025-07-08 13:31:08 -0700
Engine • revision 72f2b18bb0 (6 days ago) • 2025-07-08 10:33:53 -0700
Tools • Dart 3.8.1 • DevTools 2.45.1

I don't recall which version first showed this, but I'll try to identify the version.

Expected results

It shouldn't show Upgrading Flutter to 3.33.0-1.0.pre.947 from 3.33.0-1.0.pre.947... message again.

Actual results

even after the SDK is upgraded, the following message appears again on subsequent runs:

tirthpatel@Tirths-MacBook-Pro jl14 % flutter upgrade
Upgrading Flutter to 3.33.0-1.0.pre.947 from 3.33.0-1.0.pre.947 in /Users/tirthpatel/Development/flutter_master/flutter...

Upgrading engine...

Flutter 3.33.0-1.0.pre.947 • channel master • https://github.com/flutter/flutter.git
Framework • revision 63f471185f (17 hours ago) • 2025-07-13 08:12:37 -0400
Engine • hash a7caa56204d0f8e6f5b2babf45cc28b051f6999a (revision 63f471185f) (17 hours ago) • 2025-07-13 12:12:37.000Z
Tools • Dart 3.9.0 (build 3.9.0-333.0.dev) • DevTools 2.48.0

Resolving dependencies...
Downloading packages...
  _fe_analyzer_shared 82.0.0 (85.0.0 available)
  adaptive_breakpoints 0.1.7 (discontinued)
  analyzer 7.4.5 (7.5.7 available)
  archive 3.6.1 (4.0.7 available)
  characters 1.4.0 (1.4.1 available)
  coverage 1.14.1 (1.15.0 available)
  device_info 2.0.3 (discontinued replaced by device_info_plus)
  ffigen 18.1.0 (19.0.0 available)
  google_mobile_ads 5.1.0 (6.0.0 available)
  googleapis 12.0.0 (14.0.0 available)
  googleapis_auth 1.6.0 (2.0.0 available)
  isolate 2.1.1 (discontinued)
  js 0.7.2 (discontinued)
  material_color_utilities 0.11.1 (0.13.0 available)
  meta 1.16.0 (1.17.0 available)
  metrics_center 1.0.13 (1.0.14 available)
  native_toolchain_c 0.16.6 (0.16.8 available)
  pedantic 1.11.1 (discontinued replaced by lints)
  petitparser 6.1.0 (7.0.0 available)
  shelf_web_socket 2.0.1 (3.0.0 available)
  url_launcher 6.3.1 (6.3.2 available)
  video_player_avfoundation 2.7.2 (2.8.0 available)
  video_player_web 2.3.5 (2.4.0 available)
  webview_flutter 4.9.0 (4.13.0 available)
  webview_flutter_android 3.16.9 (4.7.0 available)
  xml 6.5.0 (6.6.0 available)
No dependencies changed.
5 packages are discontinued.
21 packages have newer versions incompatible with dependency constraints.
Try `flutter pub outdated` for more information.

Running flutter doctor...
Doctor summary (to see all details, run flutter doctor -v):
[✓] Flutter (Channel master, 3.33.0-1.0.pre.947, on macOS 15.5 24F74 darwin-arm64, locale en-IN)
[✓] Android toolchain - develop for Android devices (Android SDK version 36.0.0)
[✓] Xcode - develop for iOS and macOS (Xcode 16.4)
[✓] Chrome - develop for the web
[✓] Android Studio (version 2024.3)
[✓] VS Code (version 1.102.0)
[✓] Connected device (2 available)
[✓] Network resources

• No issues found!

This channel is intended for Flutter contributors. This channel is not as thoroughly tested as the "beta" and "stable" channels. We do not recommend using this channel for normal use as it more likely to contain serious regressions.

For information on contributing to Flutter, see our contributing guide:
    https://github.com/flutter/flutter/blob/main/CONTRIBUTING.md

For the most up to date stable version of flutter, consider using the "beta" channel instead. The Flutter "beta" channel enjoys all the same automated testing as the "stable" channel, but is updated roughly once a month instead of once a quarter.
To change channel, run the "flutter channel beta" command.
Took 11.3s
tirthpatel@Tirths-MacBook-Pro jl14 % flutter upgrade
Upgrading Flutter to 3.33.0-1.0.pre.947 from 3.33.0-1.0.pre.947 in /Users/tirthpatel/Development/flutter_master/flutter...

Upgrading engine...

Flutter 3.33.0-1.0.pre.947 • channel master • https://github.com/flutter/flutter.git
Framework • revision 63f471185f (18 hours ago) • 2025-07-13 08:12:37 -0400
Engine • hash a7caa56204d0f8e6f5b2babf45cc28b051f6999a (revision 63f471185f) (17 hours ago) • 2025-07-13 12:12:37.000Z
Tools • Dart 3.9.0 (build 3.9.0-333.0.dev) • DevTools 2.48.0

Resolving dependencies...
Downloading packages...
  _fe_analyzer_shared 82.0.0 (85.0.0 available)
  adaptive_breakpoints 0.1.7 (discontinued)
  analyzer 7.4.5 (7.5.7 available)
  archive 3.6.1 (4.0.7 available)
  characters 1.4.0 (1.4.1 available)
  coverage 1.14.1 (1.15.0 available)
  device_info 2.0.3 (discontinued replaced by device_info_plus)
  ffigen 18.1.0 (19.0.0 available)
  google_mobile_ads 5.1.0 (6.0.0 available)
  googleapis 12.0.0 (14.0.0 available)
  googleapis_auth 1.6.0 (2.0.0 available)
  isolate 2.1.1 (discontinued)
  js 0.7.2 (discontinued)
  material_color_utilities 0.11.1 (0.13.0 available)
  meta 1.16.0 (1.17.0 available)
  metrics_center 1.0.13 (1.0.14 available)
  native_toolchain_c 0.16.6 (0.16.8 available)
  pedantic 1.11.1 (discontinued replaced by lints)
  petitparser 6.1.0 (7.0.0 available)
  shelf_web_socket 2.0.1 (3.0.0 available)
  url_launcher 6.3.1 (6.3.2 available)
  video_player_avfoundation 2.7.2 (2.8.0 available)
  video_player_web 2.3.5 (2.4.0 available)
  webview_flutter 4.9.0 (4.13.0 available)
  webview_flutter_android 3.16.9 (4.7.0 available)
  xml 6.5.0 (6.6.0 available)
No dependencies changed.
5 packages are discontinued.
21 packages have newer versions incompatible with dependency constraints.
Try `flutter pub outdated` for more information.

Running flutter doctor...
Doctor summary (to see all details, run flutter doctor -v):
[✓] Flutter (Channel master, 3.33.0-1.0.pre.947, on macOS 15.5 24F74 darwin-arm64, locale en-IN)
[✓] Android toolchain - develop for Android devices (Android SDK version 36.0.0)
[✓] Xcode - develop for iOS and macOS (Xcode 16.4)
[✓] Chrome - develop for the web
[✓] Android Studio (version 2024.3)
[✓] VS Code (version 1.102.0)
[✓] Connected device (2 available)
[✓] Network resources

• No issues found!

This channel is intended for Flutter contributors. This channel is not as thoroughly tested as the "beta" and "stable" channels. We do not recommend using this channel for normal use as it more likely to contain serious regressions.

For information on contributing to Flutter, see our contributing guide:
    https://github.com/flutter/flutter/blob/main/CONTRIBUTING.md

For the most up to date stable version of flutter, consider using the "beta" channel instead. The Flutter "beta" channel enjoys all the same automated testing as the "stable" channel, but is updated roughly once a month instead of once a quarter.
To change channel, run the "flutter channel beta" command.
Took 11.6s
tirthpatel@Tirths-MacBook-Pro jl14 % 

Code sample

N/A

Screenshots or Video

N/A

Logs

N/A

Flutter Doctor output

Doctor output

[✓] Flutter (Channel master, 3.33.0-1.0.pre.947, on macOS 15.5 24F74 darwin-arm64, locale en-IN) [1,312ms]
    • Flutter version 3.33.0-1.0.pre.947 on channel master at /Users/tirthpatel/Development/flutter_master/flutter
    • Upstream repository https://github.com/flutter/flutter.git
    • Framework revision 63f471185f (19 hours ago), 2025-07-13 08:12:37 -0400
    • Engine revision 63f471185f
    • Dart version 3.9.0 (build 3.9.0-333.0.dev)
    • DevTools version 2.48.0
    • Feature flags: enable-web, enable-linux-desktop, enable-macos-desktop, enable-windows-desktop, enable-android, enable-ios, enable-custom-devices, cli-animations,
      enable-native-assets, enable-swift-package-manager

[✓] Android toolchain - develop for Android devices (Android SDK version 36.0.0) [780ms]
    • Android SDK at /Users/tirthpatel/Library/Android/sdk
    • Emulator version 35.5.10.0 (build_id 13402964) (CL:N/A)
    • Platform android-36, build-tools 36.0.0
    • Java binary at: /Applications/Android Studio.app/Contents/jbr/Contents/Home/bin/java
      This is the JDK bundled with the latest Android Studio installation on this machine.
      To manually set the JDK path, use: `flutter config --jdk-dir="path/to/jdk"`.
    • Java version OpenJDK Runtime Environment (build 21.0.6+-13368085-b895.109)
    • All Android licenses accepted.

[✓] Xcode - develop for iOS and macOS (Xcode 16.4) [452ms]
    • Xcode at /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer
    • Build 16F6
    • CocoaPods version 1.16.2

[✓] Chrome - develop for the web [10ms]
    • Chrome at /Applications/Google Chrome.app/Contents/MacOS/Google Chrome

[✓] Android Studio (version 2024.3) [10ms]
    • Android Studio at /Applications/Android Studio.app/Contents
    • Flutter plugin can be installed from:
      🔨 https://plugins.jetbrains.com/plugin/9212-flutter
    • Dart plugin can be installed from:
      🔨 https://plugins.jetbrains.com/plugin/6351-dart
    • Java version OpenJDK Runtime Environment (build 21.0.6+-13368085-b895.109)

[✓] VS Code (version 1.102.0) [9ms]
    • VS Code at /Applications/Visual Studio Code.app/Contents
    • Flutter extension version 3.114.0

[✓] Connected device (2 available) [5.6s]
    • macOS (desktop) • macos  • darwin-arm64   • macOS 15.5 24F74 darwin-arm64
    • Chrome (web)    • chrome • web-javascript • Google Chrome 138.0.7204.101

[✓] Network resources [463ms]
    • All expected network resources are available.

• No issues found!

[jason-simmons]

This is a side effect of the changes to flutter upgrade in 922e00a

I noticed that the version string written to the flutterVersion field in FlutterVersion.toJson does not match the format expected by the GitTagVersion parser when the flutter.version.json file is deserialized.
The mismatch will cause flutter upgrade to think that the Git tag has changed and that the upgrade needs to be repeated.

@bkonyi

[tirth-patel-nc]

thanks for the explanation and fix. I wasn't able to identify the commit just by looking at the commit tree, and git bisect doesn't work well with flutter upgrade. thanks again.